IN THE GARDEN: Veteran writer’s book hits home

Thomas Mickey

Sunday

Jan 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMJan 29, 2012 at 3:05 AM

How to care for plants indoors continues to challenge me. New England garden writer Anne Moore’s new book, “Houseplants are Houseguests,” plunges into how to maintain healthy plants indoors from season to season

Gardeners who cultivate plants, trees and shrubs outside may admit they lack the skill to keep plants alive indoors.

How to care for plants indoors continues to challenge me. Several potted plants sit near the window, but I am the first to admit that I have lost many houseplants.

New England garden writer Anne Moore’s new book, “Houseplants are Houseguests,” plunges into how to maintain healthy plants indoors from season to season. Moore’s pages flow from her years in caring for such plants, and along the way she has won awards for outstanding houseplants.

Moore writes in a clear, easy style that makes you move easily from chapter to chapter with great pleasure and ease. What she presents is helpful advice for indoor gardeners.

The main message in the book is to duplicate the plant’s native conditions as closely as possible. For example, her instructions on how to care for a Christmas cactus make complete sense. If you want to have blooms during the holidays, you first need to give the plant several weeks out of the light.

The book offers steps to foster a happy houseplant. The chapters focus on the container, soil mixture, water needs and the kind of light a plant will need. Each chapter includes a familiar houseplant, such as cyclamen, African violets and even the spider plant.

Many of the common plants that we love to grow indoors are from tropical climates. Moore also writes about the native American plant agave, one of my favorites. I remember once visiting the agave collection at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. The size of agave plants amaze me; some are tiny while others stand several feet tall.

Succulents often become a houseplant. Moore writes, “The camels of the plant world, succulents have a huge capacity for water storage that is to be drawn upon when the need arises.”

To reproduce a houseplant is not a mystery. You will however have an easier time with some than others. Moore recommends Rootone when you plant a cutting.

Watering seems to be the top problem when caring for houseplants. The jade plant, for example, likes a lot of water once in a while but not on a regular basis. They like to dry out between waterings.

Moore assumes the role of an eager learner when she receives a new indoor plant. She first reads about the plant: its origin, light and water needs, as well as blooming and sedentary period. Every plant has a slow time in the year, when you do not fertilize, and perhaps water little. Moore says that plants were not created to live indoors.

Indoor planting became popular in the 19th century when glass prices dropped. The large greenhouses and conservatories that the rich could afford were created on a smaller scale by the middle class. Making the home cheerful with plants during the winter months often became a subject in the garden catalogs.

Moore concludes her book with a link to Michael’s Pollan’s book “The Botany of Desire,” one of my favorites. She connects his theme with how houseplants have changed as they have become part of our everyday lives.

This is a book worth reading because it is helpful and also a delight to read. The line drawings of a plant in each chapter add a touch of personality.

Thomas Mickey is a master gardener from Quincy and professor emeritus at Bridgewater State University. You may reach him at www.americangardening.net.

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